VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Coastal Edge and SurfRider Foundation started the second day of Something in the Water by serving the community through "Something in the Water, Nothing on the Beach." They cleaned up the Oceanfront with hopes to preserve the beach.
“Growing up in this area, it’s good to see celebrities come back and pour back into the community,” said Raven Parker, one of the volunteers who showed up for the event."
Something in the Water at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront gives people another reason to give back. Saturday morning, volunteers searched for plastic bottles, bags and other trash hoping to prevent it from getting into the ocean. Victor Enriquez, the cleanup coordinator for SurfRider Foundation Virginia Chapter, stresses the importance of this work.
“There’s plastics that go into the ocean every single minute and some animals will eat that," Enriquez said. "More animals will eat that. And eventually, we’ll have microplastics in our bodies.”
Volunteers started cleaning around Coastal Edge on 21st Street before heading to the beach.
“Eventually, the wind will blow the trash into the ocean and we want to stop that from happening,” he said.
“Especially on a really big weekend where people are going to be having fun and everything, they’re just enjoying the moment and not realizing how much damage their doing to the environment by just throwing stuff,” said Alexandra Sierra, another volunteer.
Enriquez said at the first Something in the Water festival in 2019, they helped to remove 520 pounds of trash from the area. Volunteers said they want to do their part to protect the environment.
“All over the world, it’s not clean and it’s because of us," Sierra said. "So, I think we should correct our wrongs. Even if we didn’t do it, we should help out.”
Enriquez said the organization hosts beach cleanups every month. You can get involved here.